Meg Whitman, Trailing In Her Own Poll, Claims To Have Weathered Maid Story

Meg Whitman's campaign has released a poll taken Sunday and Monday that shows her trailing Jerry Brown by a 43-41 margin. That's within the margin of error, and the Whitman campaign calls the race "a virtual tie."

In the polling memo, Whitman claims to have "weathered the Gloria Allred attack, owing in no small measure to Allred's negative image."

So this is where we are: Whitman is now polling on Gloria Allred's favorability rating. According to the poll, 24% have a favorable impression of the feminist attorney, while 68% have an unfavorable impression. That would be great for Whitman if she were running against Gloria Allred.

But she's running against Jerry Brown, who according to Whitman's own poll has a favorable/unfavorable rating of 51-41 -- much better than Whitman's rating of 44-44.

Both candidates are viewed more favorably in the Whitman poll than in recently released public polls.

A Rasmussen poll released on Monday showed Brown leading the race 49-44. The poll gave Whitman a favorable/unfavorable rating of 44-50, while Brown was at 45-48.

Before the housekeeper story broke, the L.A. Times released a poll showing Whitman with a favorable/unfavorable rating of 37-47, with Brown at 45-45. As with the Rasmussen poll, Brown led the race 49-44. The Whitman campaign criticized that poll's methodology.